I understand the conclusions some of you seem to be drawing from the ending that we got, but my conclusion is simply this:

It was a cop out.

This is a team of writers that has penned one of the great dramatic television series ever for the last decade. And Chase was the man in charge. He/they could have written a real ending if he/they had wanted to. This was a golden opportunity to make a really great, big, artistic statement on a cinematic scale, a chance to go all out and make this episode and in particular the final few scenes of a quality that is usually only reserved for the best of the big screen. And until the last second, it was just that. The tension was slowly building for the whole episode, building and building and building until it got to the point where it had to go one of two ways - either we are left with the family eating a mundane meal without incident, or something happens. All I see here is indecision. He/they couldn't decide which way to go. He/they didn't want to piss everyone off, so they copped out and left it up to us, which is bullshit imo. Great television series' tell a story, as this one has. Stories have beginnings, middles, and ends, not beginnings, middles, and almost-ends. Television series' are not choose-your-own-adventure stories. Chase and all of the writers are paid the big bucks to write the show, so they should have actually written a damn ending.

Originally posted by namkcuR I understand the conclusions some of you seem to be drawing from the ending that we got, but my conclusion is simply this:

It was a cop out.

This is a team of writers that has penned one of the great dramatic television series ever for the last decade. And Chase was the man in charge. He/they could have written a real ending if he/they had wanted to. This was a golden opportunity to make a really great, big, artistic statement on a cinematic scale, a chance to go all out and make this episode and in particular the final few scenes of a quality that is usually only reserved for the best of the big screen. And until the last second, it was just that. The tension was slowly building for the whole episode, building and building and building until it got to the point where it had to go one of two ways - either we are left with the family eating a mundane meal without incident, or something happens. All I see here is indecision. He/they couldn't decide which way to go. He/they didn't want to piss everyone off, so they copped out and left it up to us, which is bullshit imo. Great television series' tell a story, as this one has. Stories have beginnings, middles, and ends, not beginnings, middles, and almost-ends. Television series' are not choose-your-own-adventure stories. Chase and all of the writers are paid the big bucks to write the show, so they should have actually written a damn ending.

But Chase realizes that this leaves it open for a Sopranos movie, which means more $$$.

Originally posted by Irvine511 ah, but David Chase has been adament, since the beginning, about how much he hates TV. the resoultions, the conclusions, the lessons, the morality plays. so he gave us an anti-ending.

...

so, it was a Fuck You. but a brilliant, authentic Fuck You.

as life is.

I'm kind of laughing at all the angry reactions. Did people just want shit to blow up and everybody to get blown away? Come on. This is smarter TV than that. This isn't an action movie. (And hey - at least they got Phil.)

As for the terror subplot, it did seem unnecessary. Maybe it was meant as more of a metaphor. Of what, it's too late to come up with a coherent answer for that. I'm sure someone somewhere on the internet will say it better than I could anyway.

I was a little thrown by the ending, especially since I'd heard a rumor that Meadow got whacked. The fake tension at the end did seem to be the only "fuck you" to the viewers.

I kind of liked that the show ended with the family together, sharing some onion rings, with their future up in the air. Would Tony go to jail? Would AJ finally get his shit together? Would Janice get the money? Who knows? We don't know what happens next.

And that's life.

(Oh, and to whoever it was who compared it to the ending of Angel ... man, now THAT was a way to end a show. "Let's go to work." Even though you know they were all dead meat anyway, they went down swinging ... or did they? Ambiguity ... )

(Oh, AND ... again ... god bless the internet. The episode was available to download only an hour after it ended on the east coast, and by 10:00 PST, I was watching it. Huzzah, technology!)

It's as if millions of Sopranos fans cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

at the ending. That's what you guys get for investing emotionally in a series and expecting an ending resembling stuff that's repeatedly spoonfed to you on 24. DUDE I WANTED TO SEE TEH DINER BLOWED UP WTF!

So I just finished watching the finale for myself. Man that was abrupt! Not sure I liked how the episode as a whole went...it was very choppy and all over the place, a whole lot of short little scenes and time didn't seem to be passing quite right. Ouch on Phil, but somehow anti-climactic.

And then the end...that cut was brutally abrupt, but I'm not so down on it as other people are. Two theories that I buy...the guy that went in the bathroom came out and whacked him, with instant death...the whole series was Tony's consciousness, and so it went black the instant that was gone. The other is that nothing happened, the family went on...leaving it open for a revival of some sort (movie, etc.) down the line. I'm leaning towards the second theory at the moment. But man, if it was that second scenario, it could've been more a fade out or something...

ah, but David Chase has been adament, since the beginning, about how much he hates TV. the resoultions, the conclusions, the lessons, the morality plays. so he gave us an anti-ending.

at first, i was pissed. i felt cheated. and we were. but The Sopranos has never, ever played by the rules, and the show kept its integrity to the last by never, ever pandering, even if it did, at first, feel like a gigantic "fuck you/nyah-nyah" to the viewer.

it felt somewhat contemptuous, like in "Fight Club," but i think we've hit the nail on the head: it was the viewer who was snuffed.

i'm currently working on a documentary about someone who was accused of killing a police officer, and one thing from an interview with forensic expert has stuck with me. if you were to ever get shot in the head, you'd never know it. the bullet travels faster than sound, so it would hit you and kill you before you ever heard the shot.

i think that's what happened here.

how many shot-to-the-head wackings have we seen over the past 8 years? this is what it feels like for the Departed, and now you, the viewer, experience it. no music, no climactic cresendos, no crying. the lights simply go out.

and such it is with life. not to get into a big FYM discussion, but let's face it -- there's a very strong possiblity that when you die, there's no Jesus, no Vishnu, no grandparents and pets waiting to greet you. just blackness and silence. (and especially with these characters, for whom there isn't a heaven). like it was before you were born.

in the end, Livia was right: "it's all a big nothing." and this was confirmed by Junior, who when Tony visited and he reminded him how he and his father used to run North Jersey, Junior's reponse: "isn't that special." all the time we spend worrying about stuff that doesn't matter, things we don't need, and people who are irrelevant. it all adds up to nothing in the end.

so, it was a Fuck You. but a brilliant, authentic Fuck You.

as life is.

Totally agree, Irvine. The viewer got snuffed out in the end. God, what a series. Quite possibly the greatest show in the history of TV.

(Not sure if anyone cares, but a friend of mine who always has really great analysis of TV shows, had this to say about the finale)

I loved it. I really did. I liked this show from the first episode and loved it after the "College" episode (Episode #5). There were times it was confusing, there were times it seemed like it was going nowhere but honestly, it was the seven plus years - dull parts and all - of the Soprano family (business and personal). And that's what the finale gave you. I do not think the guy with the USA hat was a hitman. I do think the guy with the Member's Only jacket was just using the men's room. The two kids at the front door were two kids at the front door, nothing more. The Sopranos seasons often ends the season with a family meal. This was no different.

There were mentions of other season finales. AJ mentioned the "remember the good times" dinner from the season 1 finale. Meadow running recklessly across the street was a throw back to Jackie Jr.'s funeral in the season 3 finale. So was AJ mentioning getting thrown out of military school. Carmella was looking at beach house property a reminder of the beach house in the season 4 finale.

I resent the notion that those that are disappointed in the way the finale ended are just disappointed because there wasn't any blood and gore. That's absurd. Shit didn't HAVE to get blown up. No one HAD to get whacked. All that HAD to happen was SOMETHING. ANYTHING. Anything other than the a sudden pointless stop that made everyone think their cable went out.

I don't like ambiguous endings in television series finales. It makes the viewer do all the work and it saves the writers the work of actually writing a good ending.

Originally posted by namkcuR I resent the notion that those that are disappointed in the way the finale ended are just disappointed because there wasn't any blood and gore. That's absurd. Shit didn't HAVE to get blown up. No one HAD to get whacked. All that HAD to happen was SOMETHING. ANYTHING. Anything other than the a sudden pointless stop that made everyone think their cable went out.

Was that simply an elabourate mindfuck, or the most brilliant thing ever? I don't know. I'm going to need a while to digest it. Having said that, I think I just answered my own question. Good stories shouldn't necessarily be spoon-fed to us.

i think it was a pretty cool ending. after watching so many people die in the series, the viewer gets to experience whats that like at the very end. just sudden darkness, you never see it coming.

whether it was Tony who died and the view got to experience it with him, or if it was just the viewers the died (which when you think about it, happens at the end of every series finale, because when there is no more show there is no more viewer), it's pretty cool either way.